For Marilyn Auer, editor and publisher of The Bloomsbury Review, books are much more than a commodity. “Books give us the opportunity to have our own creativity interact with somebody else’s, but it’s so private.”

In the 800-square-foot office of The Bloomsbury Review, green helium balloons had not yet lost their celebratory buoyancy. Festooning the cramped quarters, a banner of gleaming paper letters spelled “Happy 30th Anniversary.”

Printed on newsprint, The Bloomsbury Review is a Denver- based books magazine and something of a literary little-engine- that-could. The publication arrived at this milestone despite three decades of stacked odds: operating in a shoebox-sized office and on a shoestring budget; the Internet’s juggernaut impact on the book industry; and most notably the death of founding publisher Tom Auer at age 53 in 2003. The magazine still lists him as “Publisher/Editor-in-Chief in absentia.”

“It started with my brother and a bunch of people,” said Marilyn Auer, publisher and editor of Blooms, as the magazine is affectionately known among its inner circle. She had collaborated with her sibling all along on editorial content, design ideas and dealing with writers.

“Marilyn has been the glue, the engine, the heart of this thing since the beginning, but she’s too humble to say that,” said David Perkins, a full-time volunteer at the magazine. “When she won the mayor’s award last year, we practically had to push her onstage.”

Modest and earnest, Auer is a zealot for books. She has a sense of humor and a throaty laugh yet admits that reading can often bring her to tears. Studying English and psychology, Auer attended eight colleges and graduated from the University of Colorado Denver. She grew up in a family with six children.

“We were all readers. On Saturday, we’d go to the old Eugene Field Library, and we’d all get books and come home and read them and recommend them to each other and exchange them. And then we’d go back again for more books. It was a big part of our life. The Eugene Field Library was significant,” she said.

“And when the Central Library was built, that was just magic. I used to come down with my best friends and do homework there, and run out to buy an enchilada from a vendor on the street.”

As a storyteller, Auer spins a colorful yarn, but she does not yearn to write a book. “Writing doesn’t come easily, which is why when I read something that stops my heart, I always wonder, ‘Did that just occur? Or is it polished?’ “

Auer never considered ceasing publication of the magazine after the loss of her brother.

“In a way, I’m still doing it with him. I wish he were here. What I miss is the interaction for problem-solving,” Auer said, “And even though he was introverted, he was the persona of the magazine. He had a very comfortable demeanor and the gift to go out and speak to groups of people.”

People from as far away as Romania and Nigeria are among the 4,000 paid subscribers to The Bloomsbury Review. Libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops throughout the U.S. and Canada distribute another 31,000 copies of the magazine.

“It’s a labor of love,” said Perkins, whose 30-year stint in publishing included working for commercial houses and university presses. “There were 186,000 new titles published just last year. Most of review media cover the same dozen books. We look hard for really good books flying under the radar. That’s our niche, and we’re unique among review media.”

30 to 90 books a day

A pile of empty cardboard boxes attests to the 30 to 90 books that arrive at The Bloomsbury Review every day. Over the past three decades, a pride of literary lions and lionesses has contributed to the magazine, which has helped launch a number of authors.

Auer said, “Linda Hazel’s book was one of the first books Oprah picked. Janet Fitch, the author of ‘White Oleander,’ had been writing for Blooms for a number of years.”

The Bloomsbury Review also includes poetry, essays and interviews. “The very first interview in the first issue was with Edward Abbey,” Perkins said. “We have a storehouse of people interviewed in this magazine, from the Dalai Lama to Margaret Atwood — an incredible list of writers and thinkers and poets.”

And though each issue of the magazine includes an eclectic mix of writers, titles and genres, each issue possesses an editorial cohesiveness.

“It’s like a quilt,” Auer said. “The pieces do all connect, but you have to read the whole thing.”

The Bloomsbury Review typically publishes six issues per year but has cut back to quarterly publication during the current economic downswing. “There’s been a lot of nipping and tucking in the industry,” Auer said.

Perkins added, “We rely on advertising, so this is a very difficult time because the first thing publishers cut is the marketing budget. It’s dumb. Publishers are doing the wrong thing. How can somebody be interested in reading a book they’ve never heard about? Five or six conglomerates publish 80 percent of the books. Most of the time it’s all about the bottom line; all they want to do is sell. The book becomes a commodity.”

Auer sees books as something more: “Books, for me, generate an inner world like a hologram, but populated by my perception of things. Books give us characters I wouldn’t think of, like Louise Erdrich’s Lulu Lamartine. Books give us the opportunity to have our own creativity interact with somebody else’s, but it’s so private,” she said.

A trip for the senses

“Books are sensate,” Auer continues. “Reading Jim Harrison’s ‘A Woman Lit by Fireflies,’ I could hear crickets. My eyes get dry when reading about wind. I can smell what they’re writing about; I hear it. That’s in addition to all the emotions a book brings out. If a book breaks your heart — like ‘Legends of the Fall’ — you go with it gently.

“Linda Hogan had a beautiful book called ‘Solar Storms’ — it was shortlisted for the Pulitzer — and the opening chapter gave me a world I would never have imagined. Wendell Berry’s ‘Mad Farmer Liberation Front’ is another favorite.”

The Bloomsbury Review plans to celebrate its 30th anniversary all year long. A new website (bloomsburyreview .com) is in the works.

“Please don’t judge us by our old one,” Perkins said. Blooms is on Facebook, where fans can read daily literary posts.

“The Internet presence can help. We’re always hoping to reach a larger audience. We’d like more subscribers and more participation in helping literacy. ‘Literacy’ sounds so dry. Books are about learning. You have to be able to read them and have innate curiosity as to what the world looks like through other people’s eyes,” Auer said.

“I’ve always thought reading is like detective work. Someone created this world, and you as a reader get to watch how they did it; but along with that, you have this story, whether of heartbreak or restoration.”

Asked about the process for deciding which books to review, Perkins pointed to Auer and said, “She picks them.”

And Auer said, “I’m a big fan of redemption.”

With guidance from Auer, support from Auer family members and a staff whose titles include “Keeper of the Old Stories,” “Roustabout,” “House Accordionist,” “Champion and Slayer of Great Beasts,” and “Resident Dada Beatnik,” The Bloomsbury Review is writing its own redeeming chapter in the history of literacy.

Colleen Smith, a longtime regular contributor to The Denver Post, will release her first novel this spring. Log on to fridayjonespublishing.com for details.